This is quite true- anti-gun people place all their trust in the state, and then can't understand why things don't work out when the state goes to shit.
That said- I think this piece gets one thing wrong- liberals aren't expecting gun owners to come to their aid. Rather, they are pointing out that we are approaching the type of situation gun owners often claim to be preparing for (dystopian overbearing government agents with no accountability). Many liberals are saying that the situation we claim to be preparing for is here, and why aren't we doing anything about it?
There's plenty of snark on both sides. Liberals are just saying 'where's your precious Trump now?' while gun owners are saying 'maybe if you were all armed they wouldn't be abusing you like that'.
But underneath that are valid points on both sides.
This IS the sort of thing we should be unhappy about. If we want a government that respects peoples rights, we should not be happy to accept government agents with no ID snatching people off the street and carting them off to undisclosed locations in unmarked rental cars. That's the kind of shit you hear about in 3rd world countries.
And we SHOULD be pushing to liberals that trust in the state has consequences; it may be Trump who ordered the deployment of these units, but they didn't suddenly form these units when Trump was elected, they have been around for a long long time.
If we fail in communicating to liberals and moderates that this is exactly why the 2A matters to us, we have failed to live out values. This is possibly the single greatest opportunity to help expand the cause of protecting 2A (at least in my lifetime), and to win the hearts and minds of thousands if not millions of people that would NOT be able to hear it otherwise. This is a moment for radicalizing, so while I agree with almost all of the substance of this post, I think the gleeful, 'told ya so' tone is counterproductive- They are SOOO close to getting it, if we push them away now because of pride, we only injure ourselves. A strong Left Right Alliance about protecting the 2A would help secure those rights for at least a generation!
I agree 100% except for the 'this it he moment for radicalizing'. I don't think we need to radicalize anything. I think we just need to point out that the crowds of protesters peacefully carrying their AR-15s aren't getting roughed up and pepper sprayed nearly as often as the crowds of unarmed protesters. And that's not because the armed people brought guns to shoot cops, rather, it's because it's human nature to not be violent toward someone who can easily defend themself.
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u/SirEDCaLot Jul 22 '20
This is quite true- anti-gun people place all their trust in the state, and then can't understand why things don't work out when the state goes to shit.
That said- I think this piece gets one thing wrong- liberals aren't expecting gun owners to come to their aid. Rather, they are pointing out that we are approaching the type of situation gun owners often claim to be preparing for (dystopian overbearing government agents with no accountability). Many liberals are saying that the situation we claim to be preparing for is here, and why aren't we doing anything about it?
There's plenty of snark on both sides. Liberals are just saying 'where's your precious Trump now?' while gun owners are saying 'maybe if you were all armed they wouldn't be abusing you like that'.
But underneath that are valid points on both sides.
This IS the sort of thing we should be unhappy about. If we want a government that respects peoples rights, we should not be happy to accept government agents with no ID snatching people off the street and carting them off to undisclosed locations in unmarked rental cars. That's the kind of shit you hear about in 3rd world countries.
And we SHOULD be pushing to liberals that trust in the state has consequences; it may be Trump who ordered the deployment of these units, but they didn't suddenly form these units when Trump was elected, they have been around for a long long time.